Concert and rehearsal dates for future seasons

How we plan our concert and rehearsal dates

The normal concert and rehearsal dates for the Havant Orchestras have followed a systematic
pattern for many years, to help avoid clashes with other organisations in the area.
The concert dates are based on the Hampshire Schools term dates, as follows:

The Hayling pre-season ‘Popular Classics’ concert is on the Saturday immediately
after the third Friday of the new school year in September.
Rehearsals are on the three preceding Fridays, the first of which is combined with the AGM.

There is one HCO concert each term, on the Saturday one week before the start of the half term break.
Rehearsals are on the two preceding Tuesdays.

There is one HSO main concert each term, on a Saturday approximately two weeks before the end of term.
However, when Easter is very early or late, the March concert may vary from this.
Rehearsals are every Friday during term time except for the day immediately before the HCO concert
and any Friday between the HSO concert and end of term. In the summer term the
Friday following the July concert is normally used for bursary auditions (except that
if the date is too near the end of term, or the musical director is unavailable,
then the auditions are brought forward to the preceding Tuesday).

It may sometimes be necessary to modify a specific
concert date if a venue, conductor, soloist or key player
is unavailable on the normal date.
For main concerts, the usual alternative date is one week earlier, and
for the Hayling pre-season concert the usual alternative date is a week later.
As many of our players are teachers, we specifically
try to avoid setting any concert dates which are within school
holidays, including the first Saturday of the half term break.

Note that if an alternative date has to be used, this should not be taken to
suggest that the corresponding concert date in the following season will
follow the same pattern, as the normal pattern will be resumed if possible.

Provisional dates for 2020-2021

The table below shows the expected concert dates and rehearsal dates for the 2020-2021 season,
based on provisional Hampshire schools term dates, assuming that we continue our normal pattern.
These dates will remain provisional until we have been able to confirm venue, conductor and soloist bookings.

The main HSO concerts for this season are all expected to be at Oaklands Catholic School, Waterlooville,
while the HCO concerts are provisionally expected to remain in Fareham, but Ferneham Hall is closing for
an extended period for refurbishment so concerts will provisionally be at other nearby locations,
such as Fareham URC Church, Holy Trinity Church or the Wickham Centre.

All HSO rehearsals before the concert week are expected to be at St. Faith’s Church Hall
unless indicated otherwise.
The rehearsal on the Friday evening immediately preceding the concert day and on the
concert day itself are normally both at the concert venue.

All HCO rehearsals except on the concert day are expected to be at Bosmere Junior School, Havant.